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Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) Not Visible

Thread needs solution

Acronis True Image 2016 (Build 6571)
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
The hard drive is a 1 TB GPT.

Using the Acronis 2016 rescue disk (Build 6571) for backup, why does it not show the Microsoft Reserved partition in the list of source partitions?

I realize that Disk Management does not display MSR partition.

However, DISKPART can display it.

"list partition" does display MSR partition
diskpart> list partition   <-- You must select disk before using this.

"list volume" does not display MSR partition
diskpart> list volume

Since DISKPART can display the MSR partition, why is Acronis 2016 rescue disk (Build 6571) during backup not able to?

Thanks in advance.

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The MSR partition does not contain a partition ID therefore, Windows Disk Management nor True Image can display it.

  • Microsoft® reserved partition (MSR)

    Beginning in Windows 10, the size of the MSR is 16 MB.

    Add an MSR to each GPT drive to help with partition management. The MSR is a reserved partition that does not receive a partition ID. It cannot store user data.

 

John, in ATIH when you select the source data source, please ensure that you are looking at the 'Full partition list' and not the 'Short partition list' which is the default view.  Look at the bottom left of the source panel and you will see this option shown.  The MSR is a hidden partition and is not shown in the short partition list.

John:

Because the Microsoft Reserved Partition is not actually a partition. It's just reserved space on the disk.

Gentlemen - Thank you for your feedback.

I did a bit of investigation about your feedback on the partition ID.

GUID Partition Table [Wikipedia]
Partition type: Microsoft Reserved partition
GUID Value: E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE

Disk Sectors on GPT Disks
Partition type: Microsoft Reserved partition
GUID Value: {16E3C9E3–5C0B–B84D–817D–F92DF00215AE}

Unclear why they differ. But apparently, the Microsoft Reserved partition does have a GUID value.

Steve - For the life of me, using the Acronis 2016 rescue disk (Build 6571), I cannot find in the "bottom left of the source panel" any option for either backup or recovery wizards to give 'Full partition list'.

Acronis doesn't backup the MSR partition when you do a full disk backup. If you restore to the same disk, the MSR partition is left in place. If you restore to a new disk, Acronis creates a new MSR partition. Since the MSR partition is an empty unformatted partition, there can be no data loss.